Vote 08: Romney wins at home

Former Gov. Mitt Romney had enough goodwill left among fellow Massachusetts Republicans to carry him past rival John McCain, while the race between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton was too close to call. Romney's wins Tuesday night, as of 11 p.m. PST:Massachusetts, Montana, Utah, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado.

Mitt Romney and his wife voted Tuesday morning in his hometown of Belmont, Massachusetts.

He already knew he had lost the West Virginia Caucus to Mike Huckabee. It's a big setback for the Romney campaign which hoped to pick up the conservative state.

Romney campaigned hard in Charleston, West Virginia. He even made a last-minute trip early Tuesday morning to speak at the West Virginia GOP Convention.

"In fact Washington has not been able to deal with the problems we have. We have been hearing for years that Washington was going to solve social security and they haven't. Then we heard that they would reign in excessive spending and balance the budget and they haven't," said Romney.

It was a long 48 hours for Romney as he traveled across the country. He did it to try to get delegates in states where the candidates can split the votes. In most states he was behind in the polls to John McCain. In every campaign stop he continued to stress he was the true conservative candidate.

"I will go to work to keep America strong with strong families,a strong military and a strong economy. I will make sure that the house Reagan built is the house we live in," said Romney.

California is crucial in the presidential race since moving its primary from June to February this year. At approximately 9:30 p.m. local time, McCain was projected by ABCNews as the winner of the California Republican primary. It's the top prize on this Super Tuesday. Romney spoke earlier in the day about his chances in California against McCain.

"I think a lot of people in California who are conservative, that have been tuning into this race, have recognized that we just don't want to have Senator McCain, who is so liberal on so many issues, become the nominee of our party. And so these conservatives have said, you know what, the one guy that can beat McCain in this race is Mitt Romney and they've gotten behind my campaign," said Romney.

Massachusetts may seem like the ultimate Democratic stronghold, but the single largest group of voters here are independents, who comprise half the state's 4 million voters and can cast ballots in either party primary. Registered Democrats account for nearly 37 percent and Republicans make up 12 percent.

Eyewitness News reporter Carlos Granda and The Associated Press contributed to this report.